$12 MILLION AWARDED OVER `GUN FOR HIRE' AD

A jury Friday found Soldier of Fortune magazine liable for $12.4 million in damages for running a "gun for hire" ad blamed for the killing five years ago of a businessman.

Robert Brown, the magazine's founder and publisher, said he would appeal the award to the slain man's two sons.The lawsuit was the second such case against the magazine to go to trial. In the previous trial seeking damages in a woman's slaying in 1985, a jury in Houston returned a $9.4 million verdict. That award was reversed on appeal last year and the U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand.

Brothers Michael, 21, and Ian Braun, 26, both of Montgomery, blamed their father's death on a "gun for hire" classified ad in the magazine's June 1985 issue by Richard Savage of Knoxville, Tenn. The Brauns contended their father's business associate, Bruce Gastwirth, used the ad to arrange to have Braun killed.